“Well, I suppose the hopeful expectation that these folks are really that behind in technology has been squashed. They have cannons and matchlock muskets. They have magic and skills from the system to top it all off. And Rousselot City—it sure does remind me of the fortifications in the early days of gunpowder.”

- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

En Route to “Rousselot”

“I see then…” the Priest muttered after talking to Alizée. The girl seemed…well, extraordinarily frightened by the presence of the human musketeers on horseback earlier, with her refusing to leave Adelyn’s mech for some reason. In fact, the sheer terror on the little girl’s eyes as she looked at them almost made him want to return her to Adelyn’s mech, but…

The Priest knew her language.

“She’s definitely in a bad spot,” Father Olbrich said. He looked back down at the girl and spoke that Flandrian-like language that she and he seemed to be using. It was the language of the Vanus people. And apparently, the Vanus people were the former elites of these lands. A special race of “humans” with horns, sharp canines, and long ears, who ruled the majority of normal humankind for centuries.

He didn’t glean many more outside of that, and he held Adelyn from asking too much. He didn’t want them to look way too suspicious. Luckily, she understood him clearly, and so, they continued watching as they conversed.

“I would just like to ask, have they helped you?”

She nodded meekly. “They…he…he saved me,” she muttered, before pointing at Hans. Not understanding anything, Hans naturally almost flinched back. Damn it kid, are you calling me out for something? What the hell did I do?

Father Olbrich looked at Hans and smiled. “Lieutenant Hoffman, that’s your name isn’t it?”

He nodded quickly. “Yes, Father Olbrich.”

“Well, the kid says she’s thankful for your help.”

“Oh, come on…tell her it’s no big problem,” Hans laughed awkwardly. “Was just doing my job as a soldier and all. Do you have any solution to her situation?”

The priest looked back down at the child and shook his head. “I’m afraid not. She’s a Vanus. I reckon, at this point, she’s practically orphaned. Unless some remaining Vanus nobles take her, I doubt her chances on the streets.”

“Wait, we’re not leaving her in the streets!” Protested Adelyn. “I mean…screw that, if you all hate their people so much, there’s no reason to involve an innocent kid.”

Father Olbrich nodded. “Well, as I’ve said, it’s up to the both of you how to deal with her. Though…maybe it is possible. About those contraptions of yours. ”

“What about them?”

“You killed a demonic entity with it, no?” Hans looked at Adelyn. He wasn’t quite sure how to respond properly to this one. Adelyn however nodded resolutely.

“Yes, Father Olbrich. It was difficult, but our main gun is a cannon.”

“I know that,” he said. “A siege weapon on legs. Perhaps it’s magical in nature, but I’m quite unsure. Still…fascinating, and most importantly, I believe it’ll be useful against those damned demons. Isn’t it, Captain Strobel?”

The musketeer on horseback merely nodded. “Aye, Father. Those damned demons are too fast for our artillery pieces to nail them. I can see quite a lot of tactical applications for these machines. Perhaps, we might even get a kill this time.”

“Wait…” Hans looked at Father Olbrich. “You folks…struggle at killing them?”

“What kind of a question is that, Lieutenant Hoffman?” Father Olbrich said. “Demonic entities are powerful creatures. They slaughter entire towns, and villages, ravaging the countryside. We have even heard reports of them destroying cities in the distant Principalities. Mages, musketeers…they’re our best line of defense, but only at keeping them at bay, and at gruesome costs. Pikemen and cavalry have all but been rendered useless against them. Prepared artillery is best, but that’s under the assumption that you hit them first before they slaughter you. The fact you two killed one is…quite special, in a way.”

That made sense. The damned thing killed Hans and Adelyn many times. If their modern equipment struggled to kill that thing…what more of these people? They seemed to only have early firearms. Even if they were enhancing it with the [SYSTEM] and their magic similar to the skill Adelyn now had, they would still run into issues, wouldn’t they?

And wait demons? He said it that way, didn’t he? He said it in plural. Which means…demons. This world has a lot of it. That means.

Holy heavens above, he was screwed. He was very screwed. No, wrong, he, Adelyn, and Alizée, and probably these people, were very screwed. He had so many questions. How many were there? Were they active all at once? What level of devastation were they dealing with? Was this a new threat or something this civilization had been fighting for a long time already? No, wait, did those things reproduce or not? And if they did, at how fast?

Questions, questions.

So many questions stirred in his mind.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He needed intel. More and more intel. Because he literally found those things in a remote forest. He could run away from civilization, but it wouldn’t even matter then! And what if he was a prime target? He was a damned demon too. Wait, could he possibly turn into one of those things? Or not?

Or maybe…

He was looping back in time, wasn’t he? Was that perhaps connected to that? Black magic of sorts, and thus, he would be classified as a demonic entity. But he was not a crazy maniac that killed all those in sight. What even created one then?

He gulped.

The fear of not understanding it all…it was back. He almost felt frozen as Adelyn and Father Olbrich conversed with each other. This was bad. What if they found out? Would he be screwed then?

“Hey man,” someone suddenly tapped him from behind. It was one of the musketeers. He nodded at him as he cleared his mind. “That’s a fine firearm you got there.”

“Captain Strobel, was it?”

He removed his hat and almost bowed. “Aye, mate. Captain Ebert Strobel to be exact. 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment. Serving with the Rousselot Garrison. Ain’t got much work nowadays, so my unit’s out with the Father for anti-demon missions.”

The man laughed heartily as he continued. “Dangerous, very dangerous, I tell ya, but it pays well. The men like it. I like it.”

“Demons…they’re quite a major threat in these lands, no?”

“Oh, you have no idea about that,” he looked at him up and down. “So you two came from the Western Ocean? They say great leviathans are out there. But there are far distant lands just waiting to be discovered. I had been laughing at those fools, but I see that they may be onto something after all.”

He laughed, and so did Hans, though, Hans was really just laughing along.

“The Company is going to get interested in ya son,” the musketeer said. “Very interested. Also, that kid you’re trudging along with. Why are you even with her?”

“She…again—”

“I know the story, I heard it.” The man looked at Alizée suspiciously. “But I should tell ya, there's a rumor that them, they, you know, Vanus folks. They’re responsible for all this demonic crap going around. Losing the war and all that, so they’re striking back by unleashing these monsters.”

“Sounds like nothing but rumors then?”

“Oh, it’s worse,” he once again shook his head. “For all you know, that innocent girl could turn into one of those. Can’t be too safe with them around these days, I tell ya. Especially when she came from the woods. The place you came from…”

He leaned into and almost whispered to Hans. “It’s a nesting hub of Vanus rebel groups. Republicans. That’s what they call ‘em. We’re keeping a closer eye on her if you’re going to Rousselot, get that?”

Hans nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Then again, the Countess’ a softie to them,” he laughed. “Eh, who am I kidding? She’s one of them. Still strange how the Empire hasn't booted her off.”

Hans only nodded awkwardly, not really knowing what the hell was this man ranting on and on about in front of him. “I see that. But, please, I’ve been with her for days, and she was a good girl. Safe. Innocent. Harmless. I’m sure of it.”

“Sure you do, outsider,” the man said. “Sure you do.”

+++

Somehow, Adelyn struck a deal with Father Olbrich.

Apparently, he was active inside Rousselot City as well and had powerful connections inside. In fact, it was why he was leading the anti-demon operations outside of the city. It seemed that the man had the task of investigating and stopping one of them that was reported to be ravaging the countryside.

And so, taking interest in their mechs, Father Olbrich gave them a proposition. Hans and Adelyn would take their “mobile siege artillery pieces”, and aid Father Olbrich and Captain Strobel in taking down an unknown demonic entity they were dealing with. In exchange, Father Olbrich would give them the permission to enter the city himself, give them supplies, the opportunity to gain knowledge about this land (and as he said, gain a “good reputation” quickly), and most importantly, a deal to temporarily give Alizée and them shelter in the St. Heka church inside the city.

Of course, Hans was shifty during the entire deal. He wasn’t entirely sure of whether or not he could trust these men. Especially considering how…hostile those two musketeers were viewing Alizée. He was certainly worried about their safety. Even if he had a gun, and he reckoned that those muskets should not have the power to pierce his Kevlar armor, he still didn’t want to risk it.

But damn it, Adelyn was right. Whether they liked it or not, they could not just simply operate as essentially outlaws living off the land. They needed to get in and connect to the natives. And she spoke well with the priest. Her being a Virtus helped a lot in them taking her seriously.

Thus…now Hans was driving straight to Rousselot City, following the tracks of the three men on horseback. Of course, since they weren’t rushing toward there, and he could not exactly just breeze past them like some damned barbarian at sixty kilometers per hour, he drove slowly as night settled in.

“Damn…” Hans muttered as they descended down on the road. In the far distance was the city. It was still a bit lit up, but what took his attention was its design. It was a star fortress. Or at least, a badly maintained one—or a damaged one. As they entered closer to the city, he looked at the walls and the elaborate designs of its defenses. The ravelins outside the main walls, protected by the outer glacis made of stone. The bastions with their angled walls that seemed to still have artillery pieces on them. Damn, he could swear there was a bastion every one hundred meters—that was a lot of overlapping fire possible. He supposed the main walls were around twenty to twenty-five meters high.

Certainly, it was a decently impressive fortress city for the early gunpowder age, it seemed. He imagined this city could hold on against a determined siege for a year at its best condition.

It also seemed to be a coastal port city, with a ship leaving its inner harbor just as they arrived.

Unfortunately, again, it looked badly maintained. There were vines everywhere. He could see cracks, and for some reason, it seemed that one section of the angled curtain walls in the distance was wide open. Battle damage perhaps? Almost as if a mine was once detonated beneath it. There were also very few garrison troops on top. But maybe that was only because of the night.

The men in front of him ordered them to dismount just a hundred meters in front of the city gates.

“Well, there’s their order,” Hans said over the radio.

“Just comply with it, Lieutenant.”

Hans sighed, as he prepared himself to dismount. Sure, the city seemed more secure than the towns he saw from…those things, but at the same time…he wasn’t liking it one bit. The damned thing was badly maintained, damaged, and he wasn’t sure about those artillery pieces. And they would be staying inside of that?

His guts protested it, and he almost half-wanted to run. But…at the same time, what choice did he have?

He took his SMG and opened his hatch.

No way except forwards, it seemed.